Fork it, we'll do it live! Mezzer pro vs Zeb Ult

[nate s]

For 160 travel bike, Mezzer Pro is a great call. Not gonna make roots and rocks disappear, however. If you decide to bump up, a Zeb with Smashpot and Avalanche damper is what you seek. Paired with a shock with adjustable HBO (EXT E-Storia in my case), you can really tune your front and rear to work together where you're using 80-90% of the travel regularly but have the HBO for hucks and jumps. Nice option for riding varied terrain with chunk and flow.

Spire w/ Cascade Link at 180/180 is not quite as confident as my DH bike, but it's as close as I've ever ridden in a pedalable option.

Before you go to far upgrading your current ride, you might consider just moving up to the Spire. Really doubt you'd regret it and IMO it pedals pretty damn well for that level of monster truck.

[carlh]

How much better is a smash or than the zeb air spring? Been thinking they seem nice but whatever marshal did to my zeb before I bought it it feels pretty damn good as is.

[Huskier]

Before you go to far upgrading your current ride, you might consider just moving up to the Spire.

Lol you wanna pay for my divorce attorney? Mrs. would skin me alive if another bike appeared. Plus I just got some trick anodized valve caps for Sandy Sentinel. Good for at least -3 seconds.

Found a deal on the Mezzer. We'll see if I have the patience (and intelligence) to dial the IRT. Errrrrrrtt.



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[GoSlowGoFar]

Before you go to far upgrading your current ride, you might consider just moving up to the Spire. Really doubt you'd regret it and IMO it pedals pretty damn well for that level of monster truck.

Other than a bit slacker and longer, the numbers of the Spire and v3 Sentinel are pretty dang close. Unless you're consistently riding winch and plummet trails it doesn't make sense to me, but obviously everyone is different.
For Mezzer vs Zeb, I'm wondering how the zeb breaks into its travel versus the Mezzer. I enjoy my Mezzer and like the support, but it definitely doesn't feel plush in that first 25-30% of travel on chattery, high speed terrain. I'm running the Expert, so toying with reducing air and changing the IVA to 4 to see how that feels off the top.

[TAFKALVS]

My charger [emoji639] Zeb once the bushings wore in feels ultra plush.

[Dantheman]

For Mezzer vs Zeb, I'm wondering how the zeb breaks into its travel versus the Mezzer. I enjoy my Mezzer and like the support, but it definitely doesn't feel plush in that first 25-30% of travel on chattery, high speed terrain. I'm running the Expert, so toying with reducing air and changing the IVA to 4 to see how that feels off the top.

Other than sharing a chassis the Mezzer Expert and Mezzer Pro are basically completely different forks, different air springs and dampers. IRT spring and the MC2 damper are what make the Pro special.

[John_B]

Since this is turning into a bit of a Mezzer thread I wanted to check in for advice. I bought Boissal's Orbea Occam w/ Mezzer Pro at 150mm a few years ago and feel like I've been fighting to get the Mezzer feeling good and utilizing full travel. Currently I'm 185 nekkid and have the fork set at 50/70 psi which is about 20 psi low for both options. Also I've got HSC wide open. I've played with the MTBR setup guidelines and still feel like I'm a good bit lower than suggested there.

Even at this lower psi I'm still not able to get into the hydraulic bottom at all and am leaving ~30mm of travel on the table after 10 foot gaps, riding at speed through tech and the occasional nose heavy "oh shit!" type of landing on 3-4 foot huck to flat drops.

I've done lowers fluid swaps but it has been 2 years since the fork had a damper bleed. As far as I know the fork still has the extra compression shim that could be removed. Is there any additional air spring or IRT maintenance I should be doing?

[toast2266]

^^^ with all the air out, do the lowers slide smoothly through the full travel? That sounds a lot like it's getting bound up on the bushings.

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[John_B]

^^^ with all the air out, do the lowers slide smoothly through the full travel? That sounds a lot like it's getting bound up on the bushings.

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It slides pretty smoothly but to get through all the travel requires me to stand on the bike with full weight and to give a quick leg bend.

[GoSlowGoFar]

Other than sharing a chassis the Mezzer Expert and Mezzer Pro are basically completely different forks, different air springs and dampers. IRT spring and the MC2 damper are what make the Pro special.

Well aware, used to have a Mattoc with IRT as well as Mattoc Expert. In terms of ride feel, both were pretty dang similar which led me to saving a few hundred dollars by going with the Mezzer Expert. Only complaint is that off the top feel which by chatting with Hayes and some others, it doesn't seem like the Pro will really change that.

[Huskier]

^^^ with all the air out, do the lowers slide smoothly through the full travel? That sounds a lot like it's getting bound up on the bushings.

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This is my struggle so far on the Mezzer. Tiny bit of stiction off the top, whatev. But get past 50-60% travel and it has a very "ribbed for her pleasure" type feel. Sorry for the mental picture but that's the only way I can describe it. Do I tear the thing down and re-align something or just go smash and let it work itself out?

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[toast2266]

This is my struggle so far on the Mezzer. Tiny bit of stiction off the top, whatev. But get past 50-60% travel and it has a very "ribbed for her pleasure" type feel. Sorry for the mental picture but that's the only way I can describe it. Do I tear the thing down and re-align something or just go smash and let it work itself out?

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First step would probably be to find someone that has a burnishing tool for those bushings. Some shops might have that. If you bring them the lowers already removed, I wouldn't expect it to be a terribly expensive job.

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[Roxtar]

For 160 travel bike, Mezzer Pro is a great call. Not gonna make roots and rocks disappear.

You haven't reshimmed your Mezzer.
The Mezzer comes overdamped but responds amazingly to a lighter tune which is super easy to do yourself. I've reshimmed four of these forks and every one has had the owners blown away.
I can now fully open the LSC and have a super-plush low speed ride with my wife or add a few clicks of LSC and one click of HSC for a clunk plowing monster enduro run.

[Roxtar]

First step would probably be to find someone that has a burnishing tool for those bushings. Some shops might have that. If you bring them the lowers already removed, I wouldn't expect it to be a terribly expensive job. Sent from my SM-S931U1 using Tapatalk

Exactly, the Mezzer is a great fork that becomes an amazing fork with a little work.

[toast2266]

I've never ridden a mezzer, but you can make pretty much any modern fork feel awesome if you tear the whole thing apart, revalve it, mess with the bushings, etc. That's why I've always been kinda skeptical of the mezzer. I'm not looking to buy a project. I want a fork that works out of the box. Manitou needs to dial in their factory tunes and QC.

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